Thursday, July 22, 2010Last Update: 9:47 AM PT

Hollywood Restaurant Loses Trademark Ruling

(CN) - Dan Tana's restaurant in West Hollywood failed to prove that an Atlanta restaurant called Dantanna's had intentionally copied its name, the 11th Circuit ruled. Judge R. Lanier Anderson said there was "minimal evidence" that customers would confuse the two restaurants, "aside from the initial similarity of their names and the fact that they both provide restaurant services." "The remaining factors all weigh against a likelihood of confusion, some overwhelmingly so," Anderson wrote for the three-judge panel in Atlanta. "Moreover, in light of the vast geographical distance between the two markets ... a likelihood of confusion is highly unlikely." The court also rejected Dan Tana's claim that David Clapp, founder of Dantanna's, intentionally named the restaurant after the Los Angeles eatery. Clapp claimed the name was derived from combining the names of his two children, Dan and Anna, separated by a plus sign that eventually morphed into a "t." "Without any evidence to contradict Clapp's account that his restaurant is named after his own two children, as opposed to plaintiff's restaurant in Hollywood," Anderson wrote, "... there can be no intentional appropriation of plaintiff's name or likeness." The 11th Circuit backed a federal judge's dismissal of Dan Tana's claims.